On Friday night, the South Carolina Gamecocks easily upset the Baylor Bears 70-50 in the East Region to earn their first Elite Eight spot in team history. The Gamecocks again used their tough defense and high-scoring offense to thoroughly dominate the Bears.

Florida Gators were able to squeeze by the Wisconsin Badgers to head to the Elite Eight. Wisconsin had a furious comeback to send the game to overtime. But Florida hit a last second shot to win 84-83. It was possibly the best game of the tournament so far.

NCAA Tournament: East Region Sweet Sixteen Game Recaps

Here are the East Region Sweet Sixteen matchup recaps from Friday March 24, 2017:

Johnathon Motley scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds. No other Bear scored in double-digits. The Bears’ Terry Maston who scored 19 points against USC managed only two points against the Gamecocks. The Bears only shot 30.4 field goal percentage compared to 46% for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina goes on to meet Florida in the Elite Eight.
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

8 – Wisconsin Badgers (27-9) – 83
4 – Florida Gators (27-8) – 84

Florida Gators played a relatively tight game with the Wisconsin Badgers. Gators led 34-32 at halftime and mostly dominated in the second half until a furious comeback by the Badgers to send the game to over-time tied at 72-72.

Zak Showalter hit the three-point shot to send the game to over-time. Wisconsin largely dominated the over-time period. Then, when it seemed Wisconsin had the game locked up with a two point lead with four seconds to go, Chris Chiozza hit a three-point shot to win the game for Florida.

Florida were led by KeVaughn Allen who scored 35 points on 11-for-24 shooting. No other Florida player scored in double figures. Nigel Hayes scored 22 points and made a drive at the end of the over-time where he was fouled. Hayes made both free throws. Hayes was 7 of 13 from the free throw line. Brandon Koenig was in foul trouble, but managed 13 points.

Jack Moon Perrin has been writing for Last Word on Sports since 2013 in various sports including basketball, football, rugby and tennis. He is currently the Department Head for Basketball at LastWordOnProBasketball.com. Mr. Perrin is a regular guest on the ESPN Sportszilla Show in Utica-Rome, New York 1230/1310/1350 AM. Mr. Perrin has also contributed to the Canadian TV News sports reports for the Toronto Raptors, tennis and the Olympics.